Hold the Roses Read Online Free PDF Page A

He called out, "Dom, take them to the
theater."
    By now, Mrs. C. had come to the door. She gave me a kiss and a box
of chocolates.
    Uncle Al picked me up and gave me a kiss on the cheek and said to
my father, "Happy, we gotta talk. We gotta protect the kid...She's one of
us.
    My father smiled and said, "Anytime, Al. Thanks for everything."
    We left for the theater. When we got to my dressing room, I said,
"Who is `Uncle Al' and `Mrs. C.'?"
    He said, "Al Capone and his wife, and keep your mouth shut!"
    That wasn't the only time we saw the Capones and had dinner with
them. Uncle Al came to the theater one day, and he and my father spoke
for about an hour. They came into my dressing room and talked.
    Uncle Al said, "Ya gotta change the last name, Happy. It could lead
to a lot of unnecessary trouble. Find an easy name to use. How about your
uncle Dick Curley? That sounds like an easy name and no trouble with the
`other family."' My father gulped a little. I guess he realized that Al and the
boys knew the whole story.
    So my father said, "Okay, we'll use Curley." Right then and there, we
changed our last name to Curley.
    We stayed in Chicago an extra day at the end of my engagement
because Uncle Al and Mrs. C. wanted to throw a party for me ... like a
going-away party. This time "the boys" and their wives came. It was a
beautiful party and of course I had to sing. Mrs. C. came over to me and
gave me a little package. I opened it. It was a dinner ring, white gold with
three little diamonds. I was absolutely thrilled.
    "Uncle Al" came over, picked me up (he always did that, until I became too big to pick up), gave me a kiss and said, "If you ever need me for
anything, tell your father to call me."
    I said, "Okay."

    He put me down and looked at my father and said, "Don't forget,
Happy, she's one of us, so be careful. We will be keeping tabs on you."
    Well, my father just about fell down. I could see he was a little scared.
They shook hands and they drove us back to the hotel.

     

    After Chicago, we went to New Orleans to play the RKO Theater. It was
August, so it was time for my seventh birthday. We opened the day after
we arrived. Evidently Antoine's, one of the most famous restaurants in the
world, read the rave reviews of the show and learned of my birthday. They
invited my father and me to celebrate by having dinner there. What a
night it was! The dinner they served us was simply out of this world. The
piece de resistance, however, was the special birthday cake they made for
me. It had almost life-size white sugar doves all over it, some of them seemingly in flight. I will never forget that cake, or New Orleans, for that matter. I love that town in more ways than one.
    On to Fort Worth, Texas, and a week at their RKO Theater. Shortly
after our arrival, the governor called and invited my father and me to the
capitol. In his office, Governor Lovejoy made me a Deputy Sheriff and
presented me with a little pearl-handled gun...a real one! I still have it.
Next stop, San Antonio, where I signed the guest book at the Alamo! Talk
about an education, I had the best. I was there!
    Then it was on to many other towns: St. Louis, Denver, Portland,
Seattle-you name it, I played it. We landed in Los Angeles. I played the
Paramount Theater in downtown L.A. Rube Wolfe was the permanent
MC there. I did my act and a song with him, just like I did with Dick
Powell. We were terrific.
    While we were working in Los Angeles, my father decided we should
stay an extra week or two and see about the possibility of a contract at one
of the studios. So after the gig, we stayed at the Franklin Apartments on Franklin Avenue in Hollywood. Every day we went to a different studio
and tried to see the people we knew. At Paramount, we went to see Bing
Crosby, who was very kind and cordial and that was about it. We went to
Warner Bros. and saw Dick Powell. He was doing a scene in a boat. When
he saw me, he jumped out of the